The second largest majority government in the province's history has held their first caucus meeting. The Progressive Conservative Caucus met yesterday for the first time, following last week's provincial election where they took an unprecedented 40-seat majority government. The only other party to take a larger majority was the 1915 Tobias Norris Liberals, who won 40 of 48 seats. Portage la Prairie MLA Ian Wishart says it's an exciting time for them, especially with such a vast majority government.

"The mood is certainly very upbeat. It's quite different, of course, than the last provincial election where we were still in opposition. It's quite strange having 40 people in the room, compared to the 18 we were used to."

Wishart says much of their first caucus meeting aimed to address the new MLAs elected, outlining their expectations and duties for the next four years. However, they also discussed a number of items on the horizon, including the swearing in of cabinet next week, and the ceremony for all MLAs on May 11th. Wishart says that swearing in ceremony promises to be interesting, given the large number of PC members elected.

"There are some problems around that because frankly we don't have enough room in the legislature to do that. It was never anticipated any one party would have as many members on a regular basis as we do. It's going to put the facilities at the legislature to a bit of a test."

He says the major changeover in government really displayed what Manitobans are looking for, and their lack of satisfaction with the previous NDP government. However, Wishart says that honeymoon period can't last forever, so they're hitting the ground running.

"Certainly we seem to be expected to move very quickly to deal with some of the problems that had been outstanding for quite a while. As someone put it; 'The honeymoon period seems very short for the new government'."

The new cabinet will be announced next week, and all MLAs will be sworn in on May 11th. Meanwhile the legislative session, including the presentation of a Throne speech is set for May 18th.